


in space, we're here, a million miles away

by cosmicpoet



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chapter five, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Trial Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 21:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12756549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicpoet/pseuds/cosmicpoet
Summary: What if Maki was voted as the blackened in Chapter Five?“Shuichi,” Maki’s voice echoed across the trial room, distant, yet resolute. She looked as if she were an angel shaking in an endless winter, hardened eyes befitting of her talent, but not her true personality. Shuichi had seen the walls she had put up slowly crumble, and here, she was building them back up with three simple words.“I killed Kaito.”





	in space, we're here, a million miles away

“Shuichi,” Maki’s voice echoed across the trial room, distant, yet resolute. She looked as if she were an angel shaking in an endless winter, hardened eyes befitting of her talent, but not her true personality. Shuichi had seen the walls she had put up slowly crumble, and here, she was building them back up with three simple words. 

“I killed Kaito.”

In his mind, Shuichi heard Kaito’s voice – _“the impossible is possible, all you gotta do is make it so!”_ – but not this way; this was a cheap ending for a story written in airtight darkness. His resolve was weakening by the second, and he couldn’t fight any longer, not against Maki, or Kokichi, or Monokuma, or the mastermind. Having already lost Kaede, and now Kaito, there was nothing he could do but stand in defeated silence as Maki’s confession hung heavy in the room.

“So vote for me,” Maki said, “because I killed him. I admit it, okay? Blame me, hate me, execute me – I don’t care!”

A hush of mute acceptance fell over the trial room. And then –

“It’s voting time!” Monokuma broke the silence with a cry of indifferent excitement. 

Locking eyes with Maki across the room, Shuichi waited for her to firmly nod and close her eyes before selecting his vote. When the room lit up with her name and face, nobody was surprised – nobody could be; they were all too defeated. Kaito wasn’t around any more to lift their spirits, and even he would have struggled to condemn Maki.

“Looks like we can’t argue with a real life confession! So, you’re correct,” Monokuma said, “the blackened who killed Kaito Momota is none other than –”

“Killed Kaito?” Kokichi, from within the exisal, spoke up. “The victim in this case is Kaito?”

Before anyone could react, the body of the exisal opened up and, amidst the smoke and the jarring chunks of metal moving, Shuichi caught a gentle flash of purple – not the deep, bloody purple of Kokichi but something lighter, softer; something _Kaito._

And then he emerged. Dried blood still clung to his arm, and he seemed a little out of breath – perhaps from having to hide his coughing inside the exisal so as not to give himself away – but Kaito Momota was certainly alive. Alive, and smiling.

“How’s that for a result, Monokuma? You can’t execute Maki Roll because she’s not the culprit. I’m not even the victim!”

“W-Wait, what?” Maki stuttered. “You – you’re alive?”

“Yep! Here and in the flesh, Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! And, since Monokuma got the whole trial skewed, he loses the game. At least, that’s what Kokichi said.”

“So Kokichi –”

“Is dead, yeah.”

“But the antidote? What about the antidote?”

“Oh, he only pretended to drink that. It was all his plan, really. Since this trial is officially fucked, I should probably tell you all what really happened in the exisal hangar. After Kokichi pretended to drink the antidote, I told Maki Roll to run, and she did. That’s when Kokichi gave me the antidote and told me to drink it. I kinda owed him one after that, so I had to go along with his crazy ass plan. He wanted me to lie down under the hydraulic press, and he’d record it – you know? But we paused the camera and switched places, so _Kokichi_ died and _I’m_ technically the blackened.”

“But why? Why would Kokichi do that?”

“I asked him that too. He said that if Monokuma got the victim wrong, the whole trial would be invalid. Apparently he thought that this killing game was being broadcast to an audience, which is why Monokuma’s such a stickler for the rules. If he broke his own rules, he couldn’t continue with the punishment as usual.”

As Kaito crossed the room to stand next to Maki, who looked visibly shaken and pale, Monokuma cleared his throat.

“Well, in that case – the voting still stands!”

“What? Wait, you can’t do that,” Kaito said.

“The way I see it, it doesn’t matter if I got the victim wrong! Either Maki’s poison arrow killed Kokichi, or your little hydraulic press did. As long as the vote goes to one of the culprits, then I consider it a correct vote!”

“No!” Kaito shouted. “You can’t. Don’t you fucking dare. We beat you – Kokichi beat you!”

“Well, he’s dead, and I’m itching for an execution!”

“Then execute me instead.” 

“No-can-do, Kaito! Everyone voted for Maki.”

“You’re not playing by your own rules!”

“Maki has a 50% chance of being the blackened – that’s good enough for me.”

“I won’t let you!”

Kaito held onto Maki’s arm and gently pushed her behind him. He stood, glaring at Monokuma like he wished he could burn the entire room down in an instant. Everyone in the room had seen Kaito angry, but this was Kaito _seething;_ holding onto the recklessness of an already-dying man like it could shelter Maki from anything.

“It’s time to begin!”

“Don’t you _dare.”_

“I’ve prepared a very special punishment for the Ultimate Assassin!”

Kaito didn’t move an inch, his whole body stood determined, one hand still holding onto Maki, the other formed into a fist and held in front of his face. He was about to hit Monokuma, he wanted to _kill_ Monokuma, and then –

All five exisals assembled themselves once more; the rebirth of Monokuma’s children. Amidst the chaos of the rest of the students listening to the Monokubs talk their endless chatter, Kaito turned around to face Maki.

“Maki Roll, you’re not gonna die here.”

“Kaito, it’s fine.”

“No! If I hadn’t gone along with Kokichi’s stupid plan, if I’d –”

He’d have died anyway. He was already poisoned, and I take blame for that. Don’t get yourself killed alongside me, idiot.”

“But if I’d –”

“Kaito. Trust me. It’s okay.”

“But –”

“I love you.”

Maki’s words temporarily stunned Kaito. His mouth hung slightly open, his hand still gracing her arm gently.

“Maki Roll, I love you too. And that’s why I can’t let you die.”

“You don’t have to love me back just because I love you.”

“But I do anyway. Is that okay with you?”

“That’s perfect, Kaito. This is perfect.”

“But Monokuma is gonna –”

“I know. I know. But right now, this moment is perfect.”

Kaito and Maki didn’t realise it, but the room had fallen silent whilst they had been blocking it out. Their intimacy had softened Kaito’s previous unyielding grip on Maki, and in that instant, Monokuma’s voice echoed out something about punishment, and then the ground dropped beneath Maki, and Kaito’s world collapsed.

 

 **Ultimate Assassin: Assassinated**

Maki fell hard onto a balcony at least ten stories above ground. Reaching behind her to pull on the doors, she found herself locked outside, at the mercy of the cruel wind and whatever death was awaiting her momentarily. At her feet, she saw a pistol, and immediately picked it up, finding uncomfortable comfort in the feeling of cool metal in her palm. Seeing a sharp, red dot on her chest, she jumped out of the way, as a bullet ricocheted off the door behind her. More red dots came, in increasing intervals, but it was almost child’s play to dodge them, making sure that they didn’t hit any of her vital organs.

When something pierced her arm, she winced, but didn’t stop moving. She refused to give up to the killing game that would soon destroy her body. For the first time in her life, she had learned to love someone, she had learned to _feel,_ and it was all being ripped from her clutching hands far too soon.

The pain dulled her mind, but one thing brought her back to clarity: a voice. Kaito’s voice, shouting his endearing nickname for her.

“Damn it,” she muttered, “it’s not enough to kill me, Monokuma has to taunt me with his voice as well.”

But, upon looking down, Maki realised that it wasn’t a cruel trick. Kaito was climbing the fire escapes towards her, ducking his head every so often to protect himself from the onslaught of bullets. As if he were Romeo, and she Juliet, she reached her hand down from the balcony’s edge to grasp onto his and pull him up – behind her – out of danger. He was smiling up at her like seeing her in a field of bullets was like seeing her in a constellation of stars, but he seemed pained – how long would he keep up his act in order to spare her feelings?

“You idiot,” she said as she pulled him up to the balcony with her. He was half over the edge when a shot, louder than all the rest, rang in her ears. She kept hoisting him over until he collapsed on the floor at her feet. 

And there was blood everywhere. 

Kaito had been shot in the back, but it was Kokichi who flashed through Maki’s mind. Perhaps she was just blocking out the terrifying reality, but she couldn’t help but curse Kokichi for setting this chain of events in motion.

“Hey, Maki Roll,” Kaito’s weak voice brought her out of her daze, “don’t go daydreaming on me. You gotta live, remember?”

“Kaito, I’m –”

“Don’t say sorry. I’m fine. One little bullet can’t stop Kaito Momota.”

He was lying. Just like in the exisal, just like when he told her he wasn’t sick any more. Kaito seemed to be an expert at lying to make things better, but he couldn’t do it this time. 

“Don’t talk, just, fuck, just stay with me, right?”

“No, Maki Roll, you have to be alert. Don’t focus on me, this is your execution and Monokuma is quite literally gunning for you, so run. Get out of here; I believe in you.”

“Not without you!”

“I’ll be fine.” 

Maki held Kaito in her arms. She could see that he was struggling just to smile. She could feel his pain in her own bullet wounds, and the tears in her eyes were not from self-pity, but rather, complete and utter despair. 

“Don’t you dare die, you idiot.”

Kaito merely closed his eyes and smiled at her. He looked at peace, but only for a moment, after which he began coughing violently. She could feel the coughs shatter through his whole body, and no doubt they made the wound in his back feel like it was on fire. She wished she couldn’t remember her assassin training, if only so that she wouldn’t have to confront the reality of knowing exactly how much pain Kaito was in.

“Listen, Maki Roll –”

“Don’t talk, I need you to stay alive.”

“I love you, okay? I need you to believe that. If I know that you know that, I can die happy.”

“You’re not dying at all!”

Kaito coughed again; blood trickled down his mouth and he winced in pain, trying to hide it with a small, closed-mouth smile. Maki held him tighter, lifting his head when he was too weak to do so himself, and pressing her cheek against his. Her tears fell onto his face, but he was far too covered in blood to notice, or really care. At such close proximity, she could hear his breath tighten and become less frequent, like he was half dead already, and she wished that she could hold him so tight that the entire world ended around them.

“Kaito, you idiot, _please,”_ she sobbed, “don’t die on me. I need you! I’ve never…loved anyone before! You can’t do that – you can’t just waltz into my life and make me fall in love with you and then _die._ I won’t let you; I can’t!”

“Maki Roll,” Kaito lifted his head, whilst Maki kept hers bowed. Using all of his remaining strength, he lifted his hand to point to her chest. All too late, Maki realised that the balcony around her was surrounded by red dots covering every surface, with one in the shape of Monokuma’s eye right in the middle of her chest. She couldn’t move – or she didn’t _want_ to move – as the bullet hit her dead on and she collapsed beside Kaito.

The gunfire ceased, but the damage was done.

Maki lay, taking shuddering breaths, on the balcony floor next to Kaito. They were both wounded, both _dying,_ and yet she had never felt more calm. Reaching out her hand, she found his in the darkness of her approaching death, and turned her head to face him. She was bleeding out, but she thought she could see Kaito’s eyelashes fluttering.

 _“Good,”_ she thought, _“let me die first. I’m selfish like that.”_

Kaito gave her hand a faint squeeze and turned towards her, so that now they were facing, like lovers in a king sized bed. She wanted to say ‘I love you’, but she couldn’t talk. He knew what she wanted to say, though, and he gently inched towards her to move her hair from her face and kiss her forehead.

“Onto our next adventure together, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she echoed.

It was impossible to tell quite who died first, but they both died smiling. Their hands, covered in blood and poised in desperation, turned cold still clasped together, as if in death, they had both found the one thing they had been lacking in life. They were angels, lifeless lovers dead underneath a sky with no stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading all the way to here! If you liked this, let me know what you think in the comments. Have an awesome day!
> 
> Title from 'The Moon Song' by Karen O.


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